Great fare: US to China to Canada from $273

Secret Flying reported a great fare this morning from New York, Chicago, and San Francisco to China and returning to Canada with prices from $279 round trip. The fare works only with double open jaws — meaning that it will involve a couple of positioning flights since you’ll fly in and out of different airports and return to a different city from which you started.

For example, you could fly from New York to Guangzhou, China and then from Shanghai to Montreal on select dates in September for $308. Click the picture to go to Google Flights.

Of course, you would still have to get from Guangzhou to Shanghai — a 2.5 hour flight or ~7hr train ride by high speed rail according to the Man in Seat 61 (or you can get a sleeper car overnight). And you’d have to get back from Montreal to New York. But that’s still a great fare to get across the pacific twice.

While this fare is surely going to be short-lived, at the time of writing those prices are bookable both via online travel agencies and directly at United.

Some other city pairs work as well, for example, here’s San Francisco to Hangzhou and then Beijing to Vancouver for $273 on the same September dates (again, click the pic to go to Google Flights):

I’ve never been to Hangzhou, but I’ve heard the area can be quite beautiful.

If you’re concerned about leg room for the journey, you could upgrade to Economy Plus seating for ~$150 on the long hauls when selecting your seats:

If you can travel with a carry-on only, you may be able to find a route that passes through your city of origin (if you’re starting in San Francisco or Chicago) on the way back to Canada and simply ditch the last leg. Secret Flying reports a number of other city combinations and in past sales like this I have found many more Canadian city options available for a little bit more. With the San Francisco dates shown above, you could return to Toronto for $306, Halifax for $362, Edmonton for $392 — there are plenty of options if you’re looking to pair your vacation to China with a particular Canadian destination or award availability to return home to San Francisco (or your chosen starting city).

If you’re interested, remember that you should have 24 hours to cancel at most online travel agencies and airline websites. I’d book first and ask questions later – just be sure to remember to cancel if need be.

Secret Flying has a good list of example cities and dates to play with, but don’t be afraid to try city pairs not listed. It seems that you will need to depart from the US and return to Canada, but you may find deals from additional cities.

Remember that there is a chance that a deal like this could be cancelled, so I would suggest holding off for a week or two on booking any other nonrefundable travel to be sure that your itinerary stays intact.

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.